Merit
by yippiee
Summary: He knows her love is all the merit he'll ever desire... One-shot


Here's a little one-shot I thought up randomly.

Beware of possible OOCness, depending on how you'd like to see it.

This is kind of me, taking a break from Invaluable Love, as much as I love it.

Ouran High School Host Club and All Characters ©Bisco Hatori

**Merit**

Haruhi sat in her dining room and looked at all the wrapped gifts lying around her. One gift was wrapped in cutesy yellow paper covered in bunnies, another one sealed rather simply with blue tissue paper and a delicate green ribbon wrapped around the center in a bow, a small one, packaged in bright orange wrap with a turquoise bow, a rather square one crudely wrapped in shiny pink paper with numerous varied ribbons tied around it limply, and the last, a sleek black bag with a red bow sticking on the outside.

She then looked up at each of the gift givers seated around her table. Each host looked at her with anticipation, eager to see whose present she opened first. Above them hung the sign "Farewell Haruhi" on the wall, written in huge letters across a green banner.

**Last Friday, After the Host Club Closes…**

A CERTAIN SOMEONE'S POV

_Haruhi had been acting a bit strange lately. She seemed a little more distant than normal for the past couple days, and the smiles she produced did not seem to come from the heart like her sweet normal ones. I was considering approaching her on it when she told us herself._

_I watched as she hesitantly stood up while we were all relaxing on the couches after the Host Club closed. "Guys," she said and paused, obviously thinking of what to carry on her speech with. "My father is an okama, as you now __**all **__know," she continued, shooting me a secret glance, causing me to smirk. "And he has been offered a high office job for a very famous nightclub company." She looked down sadly._

_I was pondering what she said when Hunny-senpai asked what most of us were probably thinking. "Haru-chan, what does it matter? Even if he works anywhere in Japan, that wouldn't cause you to leave us or anything…" he exclaimed as he eyed her inquisitively._

"_That's just it, Hunny-senpai," she explained. "The job he's been offered is in New York City – In America."_

_At that moment, I felt as though all the warmth had been sucked out of the room. All that was left were five shocked men and one depressed girl. Haruhi had to stop attending Ouran? Move to __**America**__?! I didn't think I could take that._

END OF THEIR POV

**Back to Haruhi's**

Spotting the package closest to her left hand which happened to be Hunny-senpai's. She timidly tore off the golden paper and tossed it beside her. Inside the gift revealed to be a pink bunny plush with red bows tied around each ear.

"It's a girl Bun-Bun!" shouted Hunny excitedly. "I had her made especially for you, Haru-chan. Her name is Strawberry because you like them so much!" He gave her a huge smile and pulled out his own rabbit plush, showing Haruhi how much it and her Strawberry looked alike.

She returned his teethy smile with one of her "natural host" ones. "Thank you, Hunny-senpai," Haruhi said as she carefully set it beside her. "She's very cute. I'll take her with me to America."

She took the next present from Mori-senpai. Opening it, she found a dainty gold chain with a wooden heart pendant at the end which had a large "H" carved into it. "I made it," he said in his deep voice, without the slightest trace of pride. "It's got the first letter of your name in English on it."

Haruhi opened each parcel one by one. The next one, from the twins, was a key. "It's a lock for your closet," Hikaru began.

"We designed a whole new Haruhi-style wardrobe for you!" Kaoru finished happily.

Haruhi reluctantly took Tamaki's badly wrapped package and eyed it over. "I wrapped it myself!" he shouted proudly.

"We can tell…" Hikaru mumbled next to him, receiving a glare from the blonde.

Then, Haruhi cut the ribbons and tore off the paper, only to show a beautiful gold-embroidered music box. She opened it up and a wondrous piano melody drifted out of it, as two mini Tamaki and Haruhi figurines twirled around in endless circles. She closed it and then got a chance to really observe the outside, and what she saw made her roll her eyes. In large pink letters, the music box read "Daddy's Little Girl".

"Thank you Tamaki." She smiled at him, causing his face to turn beet red.

"Ah, one more gift, Kyouya-senpai's." she said happily as she reached for the bag in front of Kyouya. They looked at each other and Haruhi's heart skipped a beat as she quickly looked away and grabbed the bag. As she brought the gift back to her spot, she thought sadly _I never got around to telling Kyouya-senpai how I feel about him. I suppose it's too late now that I'm going to America. Oh well, he probably doesn't feel the same anyway._

Kyouya carefully observed her face as she pulled out the white tissue paper. _I wonder what she's thinking… she doesn't look very pleased. I hope it's nothing I've done. And the way she looked at me before but then quickly looked away… _he worried silently.

Haruhi pulled the contents out of the bag. First, she brought out a digital camera, then a small photo album with only one photo of it – one of her and Kyouya dancing at the Ouran Festival.

"I figured you could take pictures of your new memories from America and put them into it." Haruhi felt his dashing onyx eyes boring into her, so she looked up and met his gaze. "I do believe there is one more thing in there, Haruhi," he said as he looked at the bag.

She felt around for something else. When her fingers had touched something, she took it out. It seemed to be a shiny black notebook, but when Haruhi flipped through it hastily, she found it was a calendar. On the front it read _Fujioka Haruhi _in a beautiful silver print.

"I'll need this since I don't have you here to keep me on schedule, Kyouya-senpai." Haruhi said as she studied the notebook. Then, she daringly brought up her innocent brown eyes to look into Kyouya's midnight ones. "Thank you very much."

He gave her a small smile and their look seemed to linger on and on until Hunny broke the silence.

"Time for cakes!"

Later that night, Haruhi was finishing her packing for America, as her flight was leaving the following day. She had already packed her new outfits from the twins and most of the other gifts when she came to Kyouya's calendar. She picked it up to admire it when a small white envelope reading "Haruhi" in neat writing fell to the floor.

"Eh…?" she questioned as she reached for the envelope and tore it open, tossing it to the floor as she read.

_Dear Haruhi,_

_I hope you find this calendar to your liking. Each month features different snapshots of the host club and also has American holidays. Please know that I am thinking of you as I look at my wrist each day in this calendar and beyond. I am anticipating seeing you again soon._

_Yours truly,_

_Kyouya_

_P.S. There is something else in the envelope – the last part to my gift._

Haruhi stared wide-eyed at the letter. _What does this mean? _Her mind raged. _He's thinking of me? Does that mean he did actually like me? And what does he mean __**looking at his wrist**_

Haruhi pulled herself out of her reverie and picked up the envelope. She tipped it over and its contents spilled into her hand. What she found was a delicate silver bracelet with half a heart charm dangling from the end. Haruhi ran her finger over the heart and found that there was some sort of engraving in it. She brought it up to her face to read it and gasped ever so slightly. It read "Your smile is my merit".

Kyouya awaited his name to be called to receive his diploma. It had been a long six years of medical school, but he had finally achieved what he had worked so hard for. He did not have one thing, though, and that was the one object he most desired.

Kyouya had never gotten around to telling Haruhi how he had felt about her back in high school. He always regretted this, thinking of how much better his life would have been if she had been a part of it, not moving all the way to America. He had not personally talked to her since she had left for America seven years prior to this. All the contact he had with her was through the entire host club's emails, where the only knowledge he got on her was how he was doing.

"Ootori Kyouya."

He walked up upon the stage, ears filled with the kind applause that came from the audience. He looked out into the crowd after receiving his diploma for his father, brothers, and sister. Kyouya then went back to be seated with the rest of the graduates and heard shuffling behind him as his family left. His father had already informed him that he and his brothers had plans elsewhere, and that Fuyumi had to get back to her family.

When the ceremony was over, the reception began. Since Kyouya did not have any family or other attendees to sit with, he had to find an open seat for himself. He found a seat next to a rather pretty woman, whose chocolate brown hair stretched far past her shoulder blades and had numerous curls throughout. She wore a simple black dress with a red long-sleeved shrug and a red flower in her hair.

The petite woman looked at Kyouya and smiled. For some odd reason, Kyouya found himself smiling back to her. She looked into his charcoal eyes with her own umber ones. "Congratulations, graduate." She said kindly. After a while of studying him, she said, "What do you plan on doing now?"

He was slightly surprised at the directness of her question, but answered anyway. "I plan on working under my brothers and father in the Ootori Group." He replied with a hint of sadness in his voice. He was not chosen heir; his eldest brother had been.

"My, what a disappointment," the brunette said with honest feeling in her voice. "I always thought that you'd be the one to inherit everything."

He looked at her questioningly. _This woman talks as if she knows me. _ He thought. Suddenly, the girl pushed back her sleeve, revealing a delicate chain with a half-heart at the end. Kyouya, who had always been composed and not let things shake him, widened his eyes to their fullest point at the sight of the bracelet he had given the girl he loved years ago.

"Har… Haruhi… could that really be you?" he said as he touched the charm. It read _Your smile is my merit._ He looked at her face and her eyes were glistening as though she were about to burst into tears of joy.

"I recently started corresponding with the twins again, having seen the address to their company headquarters on the Hitachiin website, and eventually the letter got to them. After that, we became frequent penpals, talking about everything and everyone. That's when they told me you were going to graduate from medical school, and I knew I had to come from New York and see you." She gently placed her hand on his. "Kyouya-senpai, it's been so long. I've missed you so much."

Kyouya reached out and touched her face, not sure if he believed she was actually sitting there in front of him. Haruhi. He had missed her so much as well. Kyouya brought back his hand and pushed back the sleeve of his suit, revealing a bracelet that matched Haruhi's, except his half of the heart read _Fujioka – In My Heart Forever._

Suddenly, Haruhi gave a little snort. "What?" he said, his brow frowning slightly, as he pulled his arm away from her.

"S-sorry Kyouya-senpai, but that," she was laughing aloud now and pointing at his wrist, "Is like some k-kind of cheesy love poem line!"

He was now slightly mad that she had made fun of his quote. However, he found himself unable to remain angered as he watched her laugh that tinkling chuckle of hers. Soon, he even found himself laughing with her, feeling a great warmth spread throughout his body. Kyouya hadn't truly laughed in a long time.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Haruhi," he said as their laughter died down, "but I was only 17 at the time. What did you expect from me?"

Haruhi looked at him with the sweetest smile he'd ever seen. "I sure didn't expect to hear that you liked me back then," she said, but then quickly added, "Or something like that."

Kyouya gave her a rare true smile and pushed a stray overgrown bang behind her ear. "Yes, it's true, I did like you, Haruhi." He looked at his watch. It was getting late.

"How about it if we go back to my apartment for tea?" he offered.

Haruhi sat comfortably in one of Kyouya's luxurious leather couches. She was wearing one of Kyouya's very comfortable sweatshirts, which she didn't know he would even own with such rich style. He liked to keep it rather cool in his apartment. He was now getting tea from the kitchen himself, as he did not have any maids around yet.

Kyouya walked over to Haruhi, handing her a cup of tea. She blew on it as he took a seat next to her on the sofa. "So Haruhi," he began conversationally, "what have you been up to in the past seven years?"

"Oh, I've been living as a Japanese-American in Los Angeles, California." Kyouya looked at her with a slightly shocked expression. "I've been a lawyer to American celebrities after gaining my degree from Harvard. I suppose being at Ouran helped me to deal with them and their money and power." She gave a small laugh. "Plus, it pays great."

He gently smiled back at her. "I'm really glad you've been doing well." He said as he looked at his teacup. "Did you make good use of the calendar I purchased for you?"

"Yes, I did. I used it to the very end of the year," Haruhi replied cheerfully. "I still have it in my home." Her smile faded ever so slightly as she looked at her hands. "I suppose it's more like my _house._ I never got used to the feeling of anything other than Japan being my home."

"Well then," Kyouya began suddenly, bringing Haruhi back to her senses. "What would you say to moving back home? Possibly staying with a good old friend?" He smiled nicely, but his eyes were as urgent and excited as, say, Tamaki's.

"Kyouya-senpai…" she started in a surprised tone, but then was cut off by Kyouya attacking her lips with his. He pushed her onto her back ran his hands up and down her sides while Haruhi responded. She mussed his hair with her hands and clutched his back, attempting to straddle him with her legs. They had both waited for this for far too long and were going to drink in every minute of it.

"Please call me Kyouya," he purred on to her lips, making her shiver. "And yes, I do mean move in with me." He said as he pulled away slightly. He looked happily down at her beautiful face as she nodded. All of a sudden they were kissing again, with Kyouya trying to lift Haruhi on top of him instead. However, his attempt failed as…

**THUD!**

They hit the floor.

Well? What did you think? It's late and I got those late-night giddies (where you laugh stupidly at everything you see and have freezing feet?) Oh… maybe that's just me… anyway, I was in the mood for some KyouHaru fluff. There you have it! No point at all, just for your entertainment. I'm sorry if you think it started out good and then got crappy, but I repeat, it's late and I feel out of it. And I threw the floor thing in their just for good fun. And the whole present part… was just for fun. I kind of abandoned the others after that. Maybe I'll write a sequel – "The Wonders Of Living With The Shadow King" Hmm… I'll save that for tomorrow night, eh?

OH! Did you get the idea of Haruhi's outfit at the graduation? It matched the bag of the present Kyouya got her.

And OoOoH what a mystery… who's POV was that?

Reviews are… nice. I like them. They're like cake. /Giddy guffaw/ But don't stab my story too much, or I might do something drastic.


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